MOUND CITY

The alarm sounds at 4 a.m.

It is the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, the official day for shopping around the United States and millions of Americans get up at the crack of dawn to get the best deals on holiday gifts.

Whether you’re going to the local Walmart, a shopping mall or just sitting behind the computer to get the best deals, there are safety procedures every American should consider!

(No, I’m not talking about getting mugged - even though there is a possibility.) I am talking about credit card scams.

Simply millions of Americans think they are getting a good deal, but let’s face it, the possibility of a scam is real!

One scam can drop your hard earned holiday cash to a balance of zero in a matter of seconds!

We have all seen crazy ads offering goods outrageously cheap. For example, amazing teeth-whitening product for a mere 99 cents!

Honestly, is there any way that a deal like this could be true?

This product is either a fake or a scam!

According to Mrs. Chasity Ware, FACS teacher at Jayhawk-Linn High School, the amazing deals are scams.

Mrs. Ware fell for one of these too good to be true products; she bought a teeth-whitening product off the Internet a few months ago and things went downhill from there.

"It was supposed to whiten my teeth, not to mention it didn’t, but then I started getting strange charges to my account! Those charges being well over $50 a piece!" she stated.

The charges were from random companies around the United States that charged Mrs. Ware for numerous products.

"What gets me the most is I didn’t even receive the products they were charging me for!" Mrs. Ware responded quickly.

She contacted her bank to stop the mysterious charges and did get her money back.

There are a few precautions a shopper can take to help prevent becoming a scam victim. First off, read the small print.

There may be information that can prevent you from buying.

Try to look for "deals" from highly reputable companies. Walmart, JC Penny and Target are just a few companies that will not hand out your card information.

This holiday season, follow these few simple steps to help prevent yourself from becoming a scam victim: check your bank account or credit card statements often, be sure to use secure sites and if a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is!